A Helping Hand
by GinnyWeasley5
Summary: Fourth story for the Quidditch League Fanfic Comp - Beater 2 for the Appleby Arrows. Rose stumbles across a first year who is upset - read to find out why! Please read and review!


**AN: Hello lovelies! So for round 4 of the Quidditch League Fanfic Comp, we had to write about a given emotion and mine was sadness but we weren't allowed to use the word sad or sadness in our fic. My prompts First Person POV (style) and "Demons" by Imagine Dragons (song).**

 **I'm Beater 2 for the Appleby Arrows - enjoy!**

 **xx**

Can I just say sixth year isn't as great as I'd thought it'd be. I thought it'd be chilled, you know? Homework, Prefect duties, homework, looking after everyone, Quidditch Practice, homework, again - it's insane. I mean, I'm not complaining, it's just it'd be nice to maybe go back to first year.

Professor Binns drones on and I feel my head nod slightly forward. The exhaustion of last night's prefect duties is obviously getting to me. I was up until about 2am trying to shut down the Gryffindor Common Room - some third years thought they could stay up partying on a Thursday night. I couldn't have cared less if it was tonight seeing as it's Friday, but Thursday night? Really?

I feel a sharp pain on the crown of my head. Whipping my head around, I see Albus and Scorp stifling silent laughter. I glare at them, but instantly feel heat rush to my cheeks when Scorp smirks at me. My head throbs with the rush of blood as I reach down to pick up the scrunched up bit if paper. I sit back up and smooth it out, reading the scribbly handwriting.

 _Ditch?_

My mouth drops and I turn around, glaring even more at the two boys who just turn to each other and laugh. I hear Scorp whisper: "I knew she wouldn't ditch."

I scrunch the ball back up while Binns turns to write something else on the chalkboard. I piff the ball back at Scorp and it hits him square in the nose. I laugh and duck my head back around, facing the front, trying to stop my giggles escaping.

The last fifteen minutes tick by slowly and I drowsily take notes, my quill moving methodically across my notebook. Th bell resounds and I take my time to pack up my things, knowing that I don't have a class to get to. I decide to detour to the kitchens and walk down the grand staircase, into the main entrance. I enter through the portrait and sit down. Minky, one of the elves, comes up to me with a brown paper bag.

"An apple, crackers, muesli bar, your favourite chocolate, some oranges and some warm pies, all ready for your study night!" she says.

"Awwww, thank you Minky!" I say, giving her a hug.

"Just the usual, especially when the days are cold!" she answers.

I tuck the mini-feast into my bag and commence my long walk up the castle to the Gryffindor tower. I munch on the fruit, nut and oat muesli bar as mentally prioritise my homework. As I pass a dark corridor, I hear muffled sobs. I pause, and walk back a couple steps and hold my breath, waiting to hear the sniffle and sob again.

"Hello?" I call out softly.

Nothing.

I advance slowly into the corridor, lighting up my wand so I have some sense of direction. I look around the corridor, trying to get a sense of which one it actually is. I can't tell, which is odd - I thought I knew every corridor in the castle of Hogwarts.

I jump and gasp when I see a pale brunette curled up in a ball in front of me. Her little chest heaves up and down and her Ravenclaw robes pool around her.

"Hello there, are you alright?" I ask softly.

She jumps at my words and as soon as she sees me she starts sobbing again. I try to think of what I could've done to hurt this girl but nothing comes to mind. Because I'm a Gryffindor? No, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have traditionally always been on good terms and anyway, that doesn't even matter anymore these days.

"Go away," she says stubbornly.

I stand there, biting my lip, a little confused as to what I should do. I can stay, or go. I decide against the latter.

"I was just wondering what was wrong? Why you're upset? I could maybe help? We could go somewhere better than this dusty corridor," I suggest.

"Where?" is her muffled response.

"Well…do you like food?" I ask.

I make out a small nod and I reach forward, biting my wand between my teeth. My hands wrap around the little girls' upper arms and pull her up gently. She looks at me with bright blue eyes, which are red and puffy. I link my arm through hers and she reluctantly walks alongside me, at first, dragging her feet then picking up her pace

"So…do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" I ask as we walk down to the kitchens.

She shakes her head.

We enter the kitchen and Minky is quick to talk.

"Back so soon! What are you searching for?" she asks.

"Chocolate?" I ask, looking to the girl.

She nods, and I nod to Minky. We sit down at a little wooden table and I try to coax something out of the girl.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Charlotte."

"So, Charlotte…is it a guy?" I say, a hint of a smile in my voice.

"NO!" she exclaims, blush rushing to her cheeks.

"So, what is it?" I question as I take a chance of chocolate in my mouth.

"I uhh, well, uhhh, I failed my Defence Against the Dark Arts test," she mutters and tears well up in her eyes again.

"Hey," I console and reach out, "Hey there, don't worry, I've failed tests as well! And it's only your first year!"

She gets up and comes round to the other side of the table and wraps her small arms around me. I hug her back, then pull away.

"Just remember that when the days are cold and everything, especially your cards, when they all fall and the saints we see are all made of gold and we then feel like we can't live up to them. And if you want to hide the truth, and they want to shelter you, just take a deep breath and remember your values," I say and she smiles at me.

"Thank you so much," she says, and eats some more chocolate.

"I remember I failed a Charms test once and I was completely beside myself, but I took the test, looked over it and realised I knew everything, it's just that the panic got to me," I remember.

"I think thats what happened to me," Charlotte giggles.

We leave the kitchen ten minutes later and we chat all the way up to where we had part our ways. I came to know that Charlotte was very chatty, muggle born and had three best friends. As I walk into the hectic common room and see James, Albus, Dom, Roxy, Freddy, Hugo, Lily, Victorie, Louis and Teddy and realise that I wouldn't change any of it. Really, despite all the craziness, my talk with Charlotte made me realise that I wouldn't change a thing.

 **A/N: So that was it! I hope you all enjoyed and just a shoutout to my best friend Zoli (jossaphine allibrandi) for all of her fabulous stories! Please go over and check her out! — — — — —** **u/5690034/jossaphine-allibrandi**

 **Anyway, love y'all!**

 **xx**


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